On Writing and Next Novels
Writing a novel is that's on a lot of people's bucket lists. It's something that they say they want to do with their life, but only a very small percentage actually do that. An even smaller percentage of those people actually see the process through every phase of editing and through the hardship of publishing, either through the traditional form or through self publishing a refined, polished manuscript. And in this past week I have climbed out of that category. I'm not "done" with my first novel. I still need to get into other formats, perhaps make an audio book, and truly market the thing like mad. It's such a strange thing to do something that's always been "I'm going to do it one day," and it's a strange surreal feeling that I am going to have to get used to. The strangest of all is the year that I managed to accomplish it - 2016. 2016 has been, for me and many others, a pretty terrible year. It seems like the world has exploded with turmoil and I have dealt with mental and physical problems throughout. Maybe that's why this book had been finished this year. Writing distracted me from the physical pain, and the world around me. And then there was my fear of death. Much of this novel came about because I was so scared that I would die and leave behind nothing. That burning fear sparked me to write 20k... 30k... maybe even 40k words over the course of one month. That may be why the first draft was so cluttered and messy. I resigned myself to making sure that... as bad as this year was... I would try to make it better. I took increased efforts to make my environment and my work better. I've vastly improved and tried to improve my reviews, while writing this novel. And now I'm in the strangest of all places with it - "done." I put the word "done" in quotes because I don't feel like something like this is ever truly complete. This goes beyond the fact that this is the first book in the series. What this book means and what it meant to me while writing it is forever going to be a part of me and my relationship with it will constantly be malleable. I feel like it's going to spark a new chapter in my life, whether it gets good or bad reviews. I have proven to myself that I can do this. I can write a book to completion. I've sat on stacks of ideas and half-formed plots. I've got fully completed outlines. I even have a few first-draft manuscripts lying around. But something within me always stopped me from seeing it out to the end. What made this one the exception? I'm not sure, and I don't know if I'll have the answer. I have a few guesses. My best one is that - it's a children's novel, and it feels like that's what I meant to do. Things like Little Cassie and Hellspawn were aimed at adults, and it's been hard for me to sum up the will to go on with them. When I write for adults, there needs to be a reason - either something that I want to say or a message that I want to get out. There's always the concern of going too far or not far enough. When I write for kids, I'm more apt to explore ideas and not messages, and I can get free reign with said idea. It's too soon to tell, but I don't think I'll write an "adult" novel. If I ever do, I have a feeling that it will be a story like Tim Burton's Big Fish - a childlike story conveyed in an adult way with adult themes. That's not to say that the characters or the setting weren't fun. As I went on, the world got better and better as I gave it a more colorful theme. The upstairs hallway in Sally's house now had a disco light that automatically turned on. The stairs sparked to life with glowing color. The school had a fence made of giant colored pencils. Inside, the floor was a rainbow and each color split down a hall to guide people where to go. But I think that the characters really surprised me. In the entire series, Talula is my favorite character, for reasons which will be revealed in later books. However, in the last drafts, April became my favorite character in the first book - which actually took me by surprise. April at first seems very boisterous and melodramatic. She's clearly a fashion zombie and a bit of a control freak. However, as the novel goes on we see her relationship with her family, or lack thereof, and learn the reasons why she needs to stand out. It's one of those strange things where I learned of these things the same time as the audience. It grew organically as I wrote. It's one of the few times that editing was pleasant. If you're writing you will hate the editing process. I'm not going to sugar coat it. You're going to hate it. You're going to want to quit many times. Or tear up your manuscript. Or just say "screw it, I'm done." I'd strongly advise not doing any of the three. There satisfaction of pulling through is worth the hardship. It's worth beating yourself up to rewrite your mess of a manuscript and then immediately going back and doing it again. And again. And again. And again. The question that usually comes up once a person has gone through a great deal of hardship is "would you do it all again?" And the answer is not only "yes," but "I will." I don't plan to stop writing novels. I don't think writing is something that I even could stop doing. The urge to write and get ideas down onto paper is unquenchable. I've got... so many ideas. "What's next?" Not the sequel. I don't think it's a good idea to write two books in the same series back-to-back. I think that everyone needs time to stretch and experiment and explore. And I feel that writing a stand alone on the side is what I should do next. I think there's a shortage in children's novel in science fiction that's not dystopia, so I might want to try something like that. I might even try to do children's novel'' horror. It would be an interesting challenge. Perhaps something inspired by ''The Twilight Zone and the old ''Goosebumps ''books. I just need something to keep my mind off waiting for the reviews. It is really nerve-wracking waiting for people to see the reaction to your work. And honestly, the "waiting" parts of the process are what I'd call the worst. Category:Miscellaneous